My WFH Desk Setup

April 18, 2020

I’ve been working from home for 5 weeks, since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and I thought I would share how I have my work from home space set up.

My wife and I have been splitting our days, each of us spending half the day focused on work, and the other half helping our son with online public school and trying to get a little work done if possible. That means we have 2 desks that we trade places at each day. In the morning, I’m in the bedroom focused, and in the afternoon, I’m in the living room.

Morning Desk

Working right next to the cat’s litter box is not ideal, but on the bright side, it does remind me to scoop her litter more often.

My morning desk setup

  • Ikea Skarsta sit/stand desk (47” wide)

    I went out and bought this on the first day I was working from home (back when we thought it might only be 2 weeks), and I don’t regret it at all. I use the standing feature everyday and I stand most of the morning. It’s not as inconvenient as I thought it would be to use the crank to raise and lower it. It’s a little small for a desk, but that’s perfect for our bedroom where we don’t have a lot of room to spare.

  • Ikea Kullaberg Swivel chair

  • Dell UltraSharp 27-inch USB-C Monitor (2719DC)

    This monitor is my employer’s and they graciously allowed me to take it home for now. It’s amazing because I just sit down, plug in one cable to my computer and I’m good to go. The cable provides power to my macbook and I have my microphone and keyboard plugged into the monitor. Then I have the bluetooth receiver for my mouse plugged into the keyboard. And I have my headphones plugged into my microphone.

  • Blue Yeti USB Microphone

    This isn’t the best microphone, but it’s not cheap either and it’s a good step up from using your computer or headphones mic.

  • Microphone boom arm

  • Microphone pop filter

  • Bose QuietComfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones

    I got these from a previous employer and have really enjoyed them, although I rarely use the noise cancelling feature.

  • Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate

    I love this keyboard, unfortunately my wife doesn’t enjoy typing with blank key caps, so I move it out of her way so she can use her wireless Apple keyboard in the afternoons.

  • Perixx PERIMICE-608 Ergonomic Mouse

  • Ikea Upphetta French press

  • Ikea Färgrik Mug

  • Wired In sign

    This is a prototype of a Wired In sign that I got off of Kickstarter, so mine doesn’t plug into the computer. I just have a switch on the bottom. I’m not using it as much right now because no one is in the room when I’m working.

Afternoon Desk

My afternoon desk setup


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Written by Adam Garrett-Harris, a podcaster and software engineer in Utah. You should follow him on Twitter